Classification Round-Up: Spain, Russia To Battle For 5th

Spain will face Russia in Sunday's 5th-6th place game at the U18 European Championship Men 2009 in Metz, France.

The Spaniards beat Italy 84-72 thanks to some balanced scoring which saw five players score in double-digits.

Joan Sastre had a game-high 19 points to go along with four rebounds and four assists and after he tied the game at 10 with 6:15 left in the first quarter, Spain never trail again as they took a 28-19 lead to end the period and were up comfortably, 49-33, at the break.

Dmitry Kulagin's free throws decided the game against Croatia

Italy were down by 10, 64-54, after Filippo Baldi Rossi hit a three-pointer in the closing seconds of the third quarter.

The Azzurri were within three, 67-64, when Marco Contento went on a personal 5-0 run early in the final period, but Alejandro Martinez's men regain their double-digit lead and assured themselves of finishing sixth or better on Sunday.

Josep Franch added 13 points and eight assists for Spain and Ignacio Llovet had a solid all-around performance with 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Michele Vitali had 18 points for Italy and Andre De Nicolao added 15.

Meanwhile, Russia avoided seeing a double-digit lead go to waste when they survived Croatia's late comeback to prevail 76-74.

Dmitry Kulagin hit two free-throws with 13 seconds left to break a 74 tie as the Russians won, despite being outscored 19-7 in the final quarter.

The game was close in the first half, with neither team leading by more than five points. Croatia went up 23-18 to end the opening quarter as Toni Prostran played the playmaker role.

Russia took over in the second period, tying the game and edging in front 26-25 on Kulagin's free-throws with 7:31 left in the half.

Prostran buried a three a little later to restore Croatia's five point advantage, 36-31, but the Russians closed out on an 11-4 run to lead 42-40 at the break.

And Mikhael Solovyev's men would keep the momentum, taking their first double-digit lead midway through the third quarter and going up by as many as 15, 69-54, on Nikita Balashov's basket with just under a minute left in the period.

Dragan Sekelja and Matteo Juricic got Croatia back within three, 71-68, on the latter's three-pointer with 3:20 left to play and Prostran tied the game at 74 with a pair of free-throws just a second before Kulagin made the game-winning foul shots.

Juricic and Pasko Vrlika missed in the dying seconds as Russia escaped.